Introduction to the Thirteen Passes of the Great Wall
The Great Wall was built in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It stretches from Shanhaiguan Pass in the east to Jiayuguan Pass in the west, stretching for tens of thousands of miles, so it is called the Great Wall. In the past, it was a pass where tigers and dragons were on the throne, protecting the environment and the people. Today, the primary military defense function of the Great Wall has gradually faded out of the stage of history. Instead, it has become a tourist attraction in various places for people to visit and reminisce about the past.
The first pass, Shanhaiguan: also known as "Yuguan", is located 15 kilometers northeast of Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. In the 14th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the pass was built and guarded. Because it is surrounded by mountains and sea, it is named Shanhaiguan. It has the reputation of "the first pass in the world". This plaque is 5.19 meters long and 1.5 meters high. It was written by Xiao Xian, a famous calligrapher in the Ming Dynasty.
The second pass? Huangya Pass: Huangya Pass is Jibei Xiongguan, one of the ten scenic spots in Jinmen. It is located on Dongshan Mountain 30 kilometers from the northernmost tip of Ji County. It is also called "Little Yanmen Pass". It was built and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty.
The third pass? Juyong Pass: Juyong Pass is known as "the most majestic pass in the world". It is located in Changping District, Beijing. It got its name from the Qin Dynasty. There are two passes in the north and south. The south is called "Nankou" and the north is called "Juyong Pass". It had become a strategic military pass during the Yan State, and had become quite large in the Han Dynasty. Since then, through the Tang, Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, the Juyong Gorge has been built with gates. Genghis Khan entered this pass when he destroyed the Jin Dynasty. The existing pass was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty.
The fourth pass? Zijing Pass: Located on the Zijing Ridge 45 kilometers northwest of Yi County, Hebei Province, it has been one of the important gateways to the North China Plain since ancient times. It was called Shanggu Pass in the Han Dynasty and Wuruan Pass in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is also known as Puyinjing and Zizhuangguan. It was first built in the Warring States Period and together with Juyong Pass and Daoma Pass, it is known as the three inner passes. There have been more than 140 wars at Zijingguan in history. The most famous one is that in 1213 AD, Genghis Khan failed to attack Juyongguan. He divided his troops at Zijingguan to defeat the Jin soldiers, and then succeeded in attacking Juyongguan from within. After the civil war in the 14th year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian army broke through Zijin Pass and approached Beijing.
The fifth pass is Daoma Pass: Daoma Village is located 60 kilometers northwest of Tang County, Hebei Province, China. It is one of the main passes from the Hebei Plain to the Taihang Mountains. There is a danger that "one man is at the pass, but ten thousand men cannot move forward". It is named because the mountain road is steep and war horses often fall down here. After the Ming Dynasty, it was commonly known as Daomaguan. The existing Daomaguan City was built during the Jingtai period of the Ming Dynasty, and was combined with Juyongguan and Zijingguan to form the inner three passes.
The sixth pass? Pingxing Pass: It is located in Baiyatai Township, Lingqiu County, Datong City, Shanxi Province. During the construction of the Inner Great Wall during the Zhengde Period of the Ming Dynasty, it passed through Pingxing Pass and built the pass tower on the pass. The Pingxing Guancheng Tiger is located at the southern foot of the Pingxing Mountains. It was called Pingxingzhai in ancient times because the surrounding terrain is like a bottle. In the Jin Dynasty, it was a bottle-shaped town. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was called Pingxinglingguan, and later it was renamed today. It has been a garrison place for a long time in history, with a surrounding area of ??more than 900 feet. There are two gates in the north, south and east. The three characters "Pingxingling" are engraved on the forehead of the gate. The great victory at Pingxingguan in 1937, in which thousands of Japanese troops were annihilated, was the first major victory for the Chinese army since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. It was also the first battle on the anti-Japanese battlefield in which the Chinese army actively launched an attack on the Japanese army and achieved complete victory.
The seventh pass? Piantou Pass: Located beside the Yellow River in Pianguan County. Together with Ningwuguan and Yanmenguan, it is collectively known as the "Three Passes", so named because of its terrain that rises to the east and falls to the west. The existing buildings were built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, Piantou Pass was not only the gateway to northern Shanxi, but also the trading port between northern Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Piantou Pass has a long history. It is located at the turning point of the Yellow River flowing into the south of Shanxi Province. It has been an important place for military strategists of all dynasties to compete for.
The eighth pass? Yanmen Pass: "The First Pass in China"? Also known as Xixing Pass, it is located in Yanmen Mountain about 20 kilometers north of Dai County, Xinzhou City, Shanxi Province. It is an important pass on the Great Wall "The nine fortresses in the world, Yanmen is the first." "The nine fortresses respect the first pass." Speaking of Yanmen Pass, people immediately think of the story of the Song Dynasty anti-Liao hero Yang Jiajiang who defended his family and country one after another. Xiongguan Yanmen is the first of the "Nine Fortresses in the World" and has been regarded as a strategic location by all dynasties.
The Ninth Pass? Niangzi Pass: It is a famous pass on the Great Wall of China. It is located at the foothills of Mianshan Mountain in the northeast of Pingding County, Shanxi Province, and at the west entrance of Jingxing County, Hebei Province on the west side of the Taihang Mountains. Niangzi Pass was originally called "Weize Pass" because Princess Pingyang of the Tang Dynasty once led troops to garrison here. Princess Pingyang's troops were called "Niangzi Army" at that time, so it got its current name. The existing Guancheng was built in the Ming Dynasty and is known as the ninth pass of the Great Wall. It has been a battleground for military strategists of all ages.
The tenth pass? Shahukou Pass: Located at the junction of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, it is one of the most important passes on the Yanbei Outer Great Wall. It is the edge area of ??the mountains of northern Shanxi and the Inner Mongolia Plateau, and also starts from the grassland of Inner Mongolia. The section that must be passed when going south to the central basin of Shanxi or turning down the Taihang Mountains was called Shahukou in the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, Mongolian nobles invaded the Great Wall from the south and used this entrance as a breakthrough point many times. The Ming Dynasty sent troops out of the Great Wall to fight, and they often entered and exited through this entrance, so it got such a murderous name. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty adopted a soft policy towards the Mongolian nobles and changed the word "Hu" to the word "Tiger". From then on, the name "Shahukou" has been used to this day. Taking the west exit happens here.
The Eleventh Pass? Jiayuguan: Located 5 kilometers west of Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province, it is the first pass at the western end of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty and the transportation hub of the ancient "Silk Road". It is the starting point of the western end of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty. It was first built in the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. After 168 years of construction, it has become the most spectacular pass along the Great Wall. On Jiayu Mountain, the highest mountain, the city walls on both sides of the city gate cross the desert and Gobi, 8 kilometers to the north and connected to the Black Mountain Cantilevered Great Wall, and 7 kilometers to the south, connected to the first pier in the world, which has been the first pass in Hexi since ancient times. In 1965, the city was established in the name of Guan.
The twelfth pass? Yangguan: Yangguan was the chokepoint for China’s ancient overland external communications and a must-pass pass on the southern Silk Road. It is located near Gutan, southwest of Dunhuang City, Gansu Province. The pass was built in the Western Han Dynasty because it was located to the south of Yumen Pass, and together with Yumen Pass, it was the gateway to the Western Regions at that time. Yangguan was built in the fourth year of the Han Dynasty. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, it has been a must-pass pass on the southern Silk Road. When talking about Yangguan, one immediately thinks of the famous saying of Wang Wei, a poet from the Tang Dynasty, "I advise you to drink another glass of wine. There will be no old friends when you leave Yangguan in the west."
The Thirteenth Pass? Yumen Pass: Yumen Pass is also called "Little Fangpan City", so named because it is said that the beautiful jade scriptures of Hotan were imported to the Central Plains here. Located about 102 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City, it was one of the two Western Border Passes in the Han Dynasty. It was the only pass through which the ancient Silk Road left Dunhuang and entered the North and Middle Roads of the Western Regions. It has been the gateway from the Central Plains to the Western Regions since ancient times.
The famous line "Liangzhou Ci" written by Wang Zhihuan, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, "Why should the Qiang flute complain about the willows? The spring breeze does not cross Yumen Pass" has made Yumen Pass famous throughout the ages.
The existing gate site is just an earthen city standing on a hillside beside a dry river. It is square in shape. The walls are all made of yellow glue and rammed earth. There is a door on the west and north sides, and the walls are made of earth. Part of it has collapsed. It is 26.4 meters long from north to south, 24 meters wide from east to west, and the ruins are 9.7 meters high. The total area is more than 630 square meters. There is a large east-west lane running under the northern slope of the city.
Fifteen kilometers away from Yumen Pass, there is the ancient city of Hecang, which was the granary for the guards of Yumen Pass in the Han Dynasty. Although only the ruins remain, the momentum of that time can still be seen.